Hayward's delight at Italy victory

Wales Under 20 head coach Byron Hayward was understandably pleased after watching his side start their RBS 6 Nations campaign with a win over Italy.

Ireland will provide a different defensive challenge and we will have to work on countering that in the week

Hayward's men outscored the Italians by three tries to nil with Joshua Adams, James Benjamin and Dafydd Howells all crossing the whitewash. Fly half Ethan Davies added a conversion and three penalties as Wales emerged deserved winners.

Philip Buscema kicked nine points for the Azzurri but with Scott Matthews, Benjamin and Tom Williams all impressing, the home side were always on top.

"The result and performance this evening were very pleasing considering it was our first game," said Hayward.

"We wanted to go out and play and we weren't able to do that as much as we would have liked in the first 20 minutes. But we came out strongly in the second half and put a lot of pressure on Italy to win the territory battle.

"Our forwards played well and provided a good platform and Tom (Williams) and Ethan (Davies) combined well at half back. When that happens, things tend to go your way."

Wales had led by just two points at the break but Italy failed to score in the second 40 as Wales stepped up a gear.

Benjamin put some space between the two sides before Howells rounded things off late on. Wales now face a trip to Ireland, who got the better of Scotland this evening, for their next fixture.

"Ireland will provide a different defensive challenge and we will have to work on countering that in the week," said Hayward.

"And we will have to be a lot more disciplined too."

Wales Under 20 skipper Steff Hughes said: "It was very pleasing. It's definitely a good start and I'm proud of the boys. There is a great group of young players in the squad and they showed what they can do tonight

"It will be tough in Ireland but we're excited to go out there next week."

Man of the match Matthews added: "We knew Italy were going to be physical, the first 20 minutes was very hard. But we knew if we ground them down in the second half we'd do well and we did that."

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